1. Field
The present invention relates to fuel processing and in particular a processing of solid carbonaceous material, for example carbonaceous waste such as biomass, mixed municipal waste, organic waste.
2. Related Art
The present invention is directed to the production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) from carbonaceous materials, such as biomass, coal or refuse-derived-fuel (RDF) using pyrolysis. Pyrolysis is the process of thermo-chemical degradation of the biomass feed-stock in a specially controlled atmosphere whereby the biomass is converted into liquid, gas and solid char fractions. The fraction of each solid/liquid/gas phase produced is a function of the conditions in the pyrolysis reactor. During the pyrolysis process, large hydrocarbon molecules of the parent biomass material are broken down into smaller hydrocarbon molecules. ‘Fast pyrolysis’ produces mainly a liquid fraction, known as bio-oil; slow pyrolysis produces mainly gas and solid char fractions. The present invention utilises ‘slow pyrolysis’ as the means of converting the biomass material into SNG whereby the carbonaceous material spends several minutes in the reaction zone.